RARA-AVIS: More about Bouchercon

Bill Crider (BCrider@alvin.cc.tx.us)
Fri, 09 Oct 1998 08:31:48 -0500 Doug Levin said he'd like to hear more about Bouchercon. OK. There was a panel called "Dark, Dark, Dark, and Shades of Gray" that would have appealed to readers on this list. Dennis Lehane was one of the panelists.

As for the state of the industry, well, it's interesting. There are plenty of new cozy books coming out, as well as lots of books with cats and dogs. Several writers besides Bob Skinner are rumored to have been dropped by their publishers, but I don't want to name names since I didn't talk to any of them personally to confirm the rumors. Two of them are male private-eye writers, however. The third is Ed McBain, whose Matthew Hope series has been dropped by Warner Books. This may have been by mutual agreement, since the last book I saw in that series was called THE LAST BEST HOPE. Maybe the title was a clue that McBain was done with the series.

Despite the drops, there was a lot of talk about the revival of the male private-eye in fiction. Dick Lochte is working on an article on that topic for PLAYBOY, so some of you guys should be closely perusing each issue to make sure you don't miss the article when it appears. I never read the articles myself. I just look at the pictures.

Bill Crider

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